Remember Me
forgot your password?

Win More Job Interviews by Using Stronger Keywords In Your Next Resume Cover Letter

It's widely accepted by recruitment professionals that increasingly higher competition among today's job seekers is making it harder for many applicants to successfully obtain interviews for positions in the organizations they wish to join.

In order to overcome this situation, the successful job seeker is learning more and more to use power words to help stand out from crowd in this increasingly competitive job market.

Even a few years ago, you probably would not have heard of the term keywords in the context of cover letters for resumes.

But, given the increased use of technology in screening the thousands of applicants applying for positions in Fortune 500 organizations, they have started to impact individuals and related industries in a big way.

But keywords, those hot words that are associated with special industries or job positions, are an important way that a job seeker can differentiate him or herself from the competition of other job seekers. They are important because they can mean far more than the more two or three words convey by themselves.

Jay Block, an executive career coach in West Palm Beach, Fla., commented that if the ad says candidates need to have a bachelor's degree, "bachelor's degree" had better show up somewhere in your resume.

He also commented that job hunters need to look at ads for similar jobs from other companies. It's important to recognize that each specific industry has its own inside "speak" or jargon, and knowing what specific words are important in the range of ads about certain job positions will help you spot the pattern of words that employers are continually using. Once you spot the pattern, a good tactic is to start using them yourself in you own resume cover letters and correspondence relating to getting an interview for a new position.

It's important to understand that some keywords are the real ones that you need to take notice off. Although many keywords are industry specific, Mr. Block says, certain phrases are common among all organizations. These words continue to have favor today and they include "communication skills," "problem-solving," "team work," "leadership," "resource optimization," and "image and reputation management." The reason is that they relate to universal skills that are in hot demand by today's employers.

"Business development" might be one of the most important of all, he says.

"I've interviewed many, many companies that will tell me, 'Everybody from the floor sweeper to the national sales manager had better be involved in business development in some way,' " says Mr. Block.

Keywords are something that have been used by most people though their working lives - even if they don't realize it at the time. They can be defined as simply the hot buzz words of a particular trade or profession. They clearly communicate something specific about the particular job function, qualification or specialist experience.

Some examples of these include increased market penetration for marketing personnel, shared vision for human resources personnel, customer development for sales staff and systems engineering for Computer IT Specialists.

As the market place has become increasingly competitive for job seekers , you will need to catch your potential employer's attention by writing action driven statements that explain what value you can provide your prospective employer. Strong keywords are nouns that allow you to get the message across more successfully than most other means. They allow you to showcase your qualifications, capabilities and what you can offer the employer. Moreover, they are very hard to pass over so they tend not to be ignored.

It's a well known fact in recruiting circles that keywords are a really effective way of enhancing your resume cover letters, broadcast letters and other styles of correspondence that you use to win job interviews. Strong keywords make a dramatic improvement to your presentation that should showcase achievements, qualifications and experiences that support your successes throughout your working career.

You might substitute, for example, revenue growth for bottom line improvement or efficiency and improvement for cost reduction and avoidance.

The potential list of keywords that can be used to create a professional image is very large and the more that you think of them, the easier it will be to incorporate them into your resume cover letters, resumes, thank you letters and other job search activities.

So, after you have worked thorough a listing of your "professional keywords", you need to closely marry them to your background and simply drop the weaker terms. The most important part of the process is to make sure that these keywords are relevant to your profession. Use of in-appropriate keywords, or overuse of them, could also weaken your resume cover letter so it is important not to go overboard.

If you start researching the most powerful keywords for your profession, you will get the added advantage of educating yourself about the skills, qualifications and experience that is demanded by today's employers in your particular field.

So, if you need to move away from your core area of experience and branch into a different job field one day, you will be well served by researching the right keywords to help you familiarize yourself with this new area and what is required by the candidate for the particular position.

Robert De Paola

Robert de Paola has employed staff for over 20 years in major international manufacturing organizations. To get the 7 most important tips and techniques to improve your skills in writing resume cover letters and winning your dream job visit my web site at http://coverlettersforresumes.tumblr.com/

Rate this Article: 0 / 5 stars - 0 vote(s)
Print Email Re-Publish

Add new Comment



Captcha

  • Latest Interviews Articles
  • More from Robert De Paola

Job Interview Top Tips - Learn How to be Successful at Interviews!

By: Valerie C | 28/11/2009
Learn the top tips for giving yourself the leading edge at job interviews and beat the competition!

Freshers Walkin in India

By: Asif Khan | 27/11/2009
Many have the problem of getting the information where the Fresher Walkin is is happening, which company going to conduct walkin and info about the applicant criteris to attend those walkin interview. Often these walkins in India are printed in freshers jobsite like walkinalert.com.

Prepare for Job Interview

By: Valerie C | 27/11/2009
The key to getting hired is to avoid the mistakes most applicants make. this can be achieved by preparing yourself better than them.

10 Tips for a Successful Job Interview

By: Miron Abramson | 27/11/2009
I wanted to share with you a list of tips for a successful job interview in English

Tips for Job Interviews

By: Valerie C | 26/11/2009
Learn the top tips for giving yourself the leading edge at job interviews.

10 Important Job Interview Questions

By: Anifa Williams | 26/11/2009
Job interview questions are a very important part of an interview. To better prepare for the questions you may be asked and should consider asking, read these suggestions for information.

3 Powerful Salary Negotiation Tips

By: Anifa Williams | 26/11/2009
Salary negotiation tips can come in handy when you’re sitting in front of an interviewer. Knowing what to say and what not to say when negotiating your salary will make a difference in how much you get paid.

Job Interview Preparation - Interview Tips, Pointers, Interview Questions, Do's & Dont's

By: Brian S | 26/11/2009
This article will cover ways to prepare for a job interview, providing job-seekers a checklist before any job interview.

Best Skin Care Tips Revealed in This Anti Aging Skin Care Guide

By: Robert De Paola | 24/06/2008 | Anti Aging
This brief anti aging skin care guide should get you started in the right direction. There is a lot to learn about anti aging skin care treatment, lots of research to be done. Lots of new discoveries become available every day. But, before you buy anything, there are a number of safety factors...

The Shocking Truth About Most Anti Aging Skin Care Products

By: Robert De Paola | 24/06/2008 | Anti Aging
Finding a high quality anti aging skin care product that is really effective can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Many anti aging skin care products do not perform as promised. Some of them only moisturize and several are not even very good at that. Recently we looked at the customer...

A Simple Anti Aging Skin Care Guide That Really Delivers Results

By: Robert De Paola | 23/06/2008 | Anti Aging
Are you frustrated that your skin is starting to show signs of aging? While it's natural to feel this way, unfortunately, it's just not possible today to completely totally halt our skin's aging process. But, by diligently following a simple anti aging skin care guide, you can dramatically slow this process down. So...

Win More Job Interviews by Using Stronger Keywords In Your Next Resume Cover Letter

By: Robert De Paola | 24/11/2007 | Interviews
The use of Key Words in your resume cover letter is a powerful way of differentiating yourself from competing resumes. What Keywords do is establish a connection between you and your potential employer. The most important part of using them is to select the right ones that are most relevant to your industry or position.

Why are Great Cover Letters for Your Resume Still as Important as Ever?

By: Robert De Paola | 20/11/2007 | Resumes
It's no secret that job seekers need more than ever to use the very best techniques to win their dream job in todays highly competitive workplace. One of the most effective ways to differentiate themselves is simply writing a great resume cover letter.

Submit Your Articles Free: Signup
Article Categories




Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the Terms Of Use and Privacy Policy | User published content is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Copyright © 2005-2008 Free Articles by ArticlesBase.com, All rights reserved. (0.28, 6, w1)